The Red Reaper of Remnant
by Soul's Release
Summary: Life is about choices. Some we regret, some we’re proud of. Some will haunt us forever. But in the end, we are what we chose to be. Ruby just wishes that those choices were easier to make.


**Disclaimer: I don't claim the rights to RWBY in any way. All property rights belong to Rooster Teeth.**

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**Prologue**

People talk about how going through a traumatic experience can really mess with a person's head, make them see things that aren't really there or have anxiety problems. It's all talk though; in reality it's much, much worse. The only way to really know how it affects someone is to actually go through it yourself, I guess.

I just wish that I hadn't; at least not at my age. It was bound to happen eventually, what with being a Huntress and all, but I always hoped that something like 'The Fall' would take place years from now.

The Fall... that's what everyone is calling it. The attack on Beacon and Vale during the Vytal Festival by the White Fang. Funny thing how quick people are to give a disaster like that a simple name. But I guess that's how people cope with such crap. But for those who were there..? The people who fought to keep people safe and try to fend off the Grimm? Those people have to try and pick up the pieces and act like they can keep on going, to rebuild and go back to some semblance of normality.

My team was in shambles afterwards. Yang had lost her arm and Weiss was taken back home to Atlas... And nobody knows where Blake ended up; I can only hope she made it out okay, but it doesn't really matter.

After I woke up at home on Patch, it didn't take me long to realize the exact scale of what happened. Hundreds were dead, and Vale had been evacuated for the most part, leaving only a few professional Hunters and Huntresses to try and keep the Grimm down to manageable numbers. The Atlesian military all but ditched us, but who could blame them? After the catastrophe the Atlesian Knights and Paladins caused, no one wanted them around.

As for me..? I guess I haven't faired much better. The last couple of weeks have been wrought with sleepless nights to keep the nightmares away, not to mention that I've had to watch my sister practically give up on the world. Dad does what he can, but it feels like the world is crashing down around me...

**1: On The Road**

"Ruby..? Did you hear me?"

I looked away from the pieces of Crescent Rose that were strewn across the top of my bed and stared at the worried expression that was plastered on my Dad's face. I sat in silence for a moment before I sighed and went back to cleaning my weapon's many pieces.

"No... I wasn't listening."

A few footsteps came from my right as Tai walked into my room and knelt down next to my bed. "I asked if you were planning on coming with me to get some firewood before the snowstorm arrives."

"Fine." I snapped the pieces of the blade together but didn't look up from what I was doing, not even remotely acknowledging the hint of concern in my father's voice.

"...Ruby, you need to stop this. You need to get out of the house one of these days. It's been weeks since I've seen you come out of your room for anything except for food..." There was a short pause before I felt a hand on my shoulder. "This isn't healthy."

"I said I would go." I shook his hand off and went back to what I was doing. "I'm fine."

"You're not 'fine'. Listen to me, please. You're going to make yourself sick if you keep this up. I know that you think you're too blame for what happened, but there's nothing you could've done. You need to realize that. I can't have you shutting down like Yang. You're the only one other than myself who can really do anything and I'm going to need your help."

I stopped working and snapped my head up, glaring. "Don't. You weren't there, you have no idea what it was like. It's not like I can just move past what happened! We lost, Dad! I lost everything! An entire city, my school, my friends, my team..." I paused and pointed in the direction of Yang's bedroom. "My sister has practically given up on everything! The one person who was always able to see the bright side and make it all better has done nothing but sit and feel sorry for herself for almost a month!"

I threw a few pieces of the scythe off my lap and jumped onto my feet to stare outside, the first few snowflakes had started falling and were starting to cover the ground in what looked like a light dusting of powder.

"So if you think I'm going to 'shut down' like her, then you can relax. I'm not... I just need some time, because it's like you said. There's nothing I could have done."

There was a long silence between the two of us where I simply stood there and watched the snow and listened to the sounds of the house. For a moment I thought that Dad had left during my outburst, until I heard him sigh and stand up.

"I'm sorry. I... I'm just worried about you. I'll leave you be then." His footsteps were the next thing I heard as I sighed, then I barely caught him whispering to himself as he closed the door. "Just like your mother... always thinking you can take on an army."

I stared at the closed door for several minutes before finally getting back onto my bed and finishing with the scythe, after which I curled up into a ball and laid there as I forced myself to go to sleep. Nightmares be damned, I needed some sleep.

**000000000000000000000000000000000000000000**

The only thing I could see for miles was hordes of Grimm, hundreds of them tearing down an unnamed street in Vale, and when I looked to my back my team was gone. It was just me and my scythe.

_You've got spirit, Red. But this is the real world!_

I tightened my hand into a fist and reached for my scythe, only for the images I was seeing to change. It shifted to Amity Arena, just before Penny had been killed. Pyrrha waved her hands over her head and I could only watch from across the stadium as Penny was destroyed.

_The real world is cold! The world doesn't care about spirit!_

The image changed back to the Grimm filled streets, this time with a company of Atlesian soldiers firing at the advancing monsters. I shook my head and shouldered Crescent Rose before firing a trio of shots and killing a pair of Ursa.

_You want to be a hero?! Then play the part, die like every other Huntsman in history!_

Roman's voice echoed through the air, taunting me from the shadows as I squeezed my eyes shut and screamed. The scene had changed again to atop the airship, only it flew closer to Beacon than it had during the attack. I could see Pyrrha getting shot by Cinder, and watched as her embers blew through the air towards the ship where Torchwick and I were at.

His face was covered in a smug grin and the end of his cane was aimed at my face, Crescent Rose broken and jammed into the concrete deck.

_As for me? I'll keep doing what I do best: Lie, cheat, steal, and SURVIVE!_

This time there was no Griffon to save me, and the subsequent gunshot was the last thing I saw before I woke up screaming in my bed. It took me a while for my breathing to calm down and by the time it did, I had already decided against going back to sleep. I grabbed my scroll from my nightstand and sighed before rubbing my eyes and climbing to my feet.

"Wonder if Yang's awake...?"

The lights in the rest of the house were off, save for a light that was left on in the kitchen at night and a trickle of light that could be seen from underneath Yang's bedroom door. I took a couple of deep breaths before tapping my knuckles on the wood and gently pushed the door open.

"Yang..? You up?"

"Yup... you shouldn't be, though after hearing that scream I'd be surprised if you were in bed."

"You heard that?"

She nodded silently and turned to look outside, the snow having piled up a few inches in just a few hours. "Surprised you wanna talk... Dad seems to think I've given up."

I rubbed my hand on my shoulder as I looked down towards my feet and leaned against the wall. "I know... he said the same thing earlier. Thinks that I'm going to do the same."

We both were quiet for several minutes before she shifted a bit to where I could better see her arm that had been cut off, and I chewed on my lip lightly as I tried to think of something to say.

"I'm sorry..."

Yang snapped her head towards me and raised an eyebrow curiously before frowning. "Why would you be? You didn't do anything."

That struck me hard; leaving me quiet for a couple of seconds as I thought about it. "But that's exactly why. I didn't do anything, I should've been there to help. Hell, this is all my fault. If I hadn't been so stupid, none of this would have happened. Penny... and Pyrrha... We'd still be a team, and Weiss would still be here, and Blake—"

"Ruby, stop."

My next words got stuck in my throat and I looked up to see Yang staring outside again, her hand tightened into a fist. "I— I'm sorry... I just, I feel like I should have been able to keep all of this from happening. You got hurt and it's my fault!"

"Ruby, I said stop. Now drop it. There's nothing anyone could have done to stop the attack, least of all you. And you would've just gotten yourself killed if you'd tried fighting that guy." Yang growled and laid down in her bed before pulling the covers up over her head. "Go back to bed..."

I stood there for a while and mentally debated whether or not to keep the conversation going, but after hearing that growl in Yang's voice I simply shook my head and left. I closed the door behind me and paused when I heard the television playing the news in the front room; another report about how things were going in Vale, useless crap about the whole thing. Dad had probably fallen asleep watching it, but rather than go shut it off, I quietly returned to my room and sat down on the bed.

Everything from today kept playing back in my head over and over, and every time I tried not to think about it all, I was reminded of how Dad had compared me to my mother.

_Always thinking you can take on an army..._

"I'm not just going to sit here and watch the whole world fall apart. I'm going to fix this... but this time, I'll make sure nobody gets hurt."

**000000000000000000000000000000000000000000**

By the time the sun had risen and started shining over Patch, I was long gone. I made sure to pack most of my stuff, including about a hundred Lien that Dad had always kept hidden in his room, but other than that I left no trace, save for a note asking for Dad not to come looking for me.

I figured if nobody knew about what I had planned or where I was going, then nobody else would get hurt. And it's not like I was completely clueless as to where to start. Cinder, Mercury, and Emerald had been from Haven academy, so I knew that my best bet was to go to Mistral.

So... that's where I would start, and I wasn't going to stop until I made her pay for what she'd done.


End file.
